Place: Lurgan Baptist 29:9:2009. Readings: Acts 15:11 Timothy 3:14-17 WE BELIEVE THAT, A STUDY ON THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE FAITH

Transcription

1 Place: Lurgan Baptist 29:9:2009 Readings: Acts 15:11 Timothy 3:14-17 WE BELIEVE THAT, A STUDY ON THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE FAITH 1. THE BIBLE IS THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD At various times throughout church history, leaders have met together to settle doctrinal questions. For example historians recognise seven councils in the first several centuries of the church s existence. Of those seven perhaps the two most significant were the Councils of Nicea ( 325 ) and Chalcedon ( 451 ) At those councils erroneous teaching about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ was condemned and the biblical position carefully defended. As important as those councils were the Jerusalem council described in ( Acts Ch 15 ) and taking place some twenty years after Pentecost was the first and most significant of all. For it settled the most momentous question of all. What must a person do to be saved? You see, there were those who were infiltrating the church and saying to the Gentile converts Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved. ( 15:1 ) Now these Judaizers did not deny salvation by grace outright. They simply said salvation came by grace plus, specially grace plus circumcision. They were saying A Gentile must first become a Jew before he can become a Christian. It s not sufficient for them simply to trust Jesus Christ. They must also obey Moses. My. this was a direct attack upon the principle of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The apostles were having none of it and eventually won the day. The way of salvation was the same for all, faith in Christ. Now it was during this debate that the apostle Peter got up and gave his answer in no uncertain terms. Do you see what he said? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they. ( Acts 15:11 ) You see, it s vitally important to believe the right things and then to have full assurance of what we believe. In this series of studies on the fundamentals of the faith we are going to look at what we believe. I want to affirm firstly that We believe that, the Bible is the Inspired Word of God. In the constitution of this church we read these words, The complete divine, verbal inspiration and sole sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures as originally given. Now what do those words mean? When we say we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, what do we mean? G. Campbell Morgan had grown up in a Christian home, never questioning that the Bible was the Word of God. But in college his faith was severely challenged and he began to entertain doubts. The whole intellectual world was under the mastery of the physical scientists, he later said and of a materialistic and rationalistic philosophy. There came a moment when I was sure of nothing. In those days opponents of the Bible appeared every Sunday in great lecture and concert halls across

2 England attacking Christianity and the Bible, and these atheists and agnostics troubled the young student. He read every book he could find, both for and against the Bible, both for and against Christianity, until he was so confused, so riddled with doubt that he felt he could not go on. In desperation he closed his books, put them in his cupboard and turned the lock. Going down to a bookshop he bought a new Bible, returned to his room, sat down at his desk, and opened it. He said, I am no longer sure that this is what my father claims it to be. the Word of God. But of this I am sure. If it be the Word of God and if I come to it with an unprejudiced and open mind, it will bring assurance to my soul of itself. As he looked into the book before him, studying its form, and structure, its unity and message he was amazed. He later said, That Bible found me. I began to read and study it then, in 1883 and I have been a student ever since. What about you? Have you doubts about the Bible? Are you asking the question, Is the Bible the Word of God? I believe we hold in our hands The Holy Bible. Bible comes from the Greek word for book, therefore The Holy Bible, simply means The Holy Book. It is the Book that stands alone, unapproachable in grandeur, solitary in splendour, mysterious in ascendancy, as Thomas Carlyle said, there never was any other book like the Bible, and there never will be such another. Now we are thinking this evening about inspiration. Have you ever watched an athlete or musician give an inspired performance? Have you heard some preacher preach what might be called an inspired sermon? Most of us have the word inspired, used in these ways. Yet in the New Testament inspiration is reserved solely for God s Word. The Bible was written by special men under special conditions and the canon of Scripture is closed. There are really no songs, no books, no visions, no poems and no sermons that are inspired today. But in order to understand the difference between biblical inspiration and the rather casual way we refer to something or someone we think is inspired, today we need to look closely at what Scripture has to say. Inspiration is tied very closely to two other terms. The two other terms are Revelation and Illumination. Indeed, God used these three wonderful methods as He carefully carved out that most blessed of all books, the Bible. And these tools of the Trinity, are referred to as Revelation, Inspiration and Illumination. How did we receive our Bible? Well, around 1400 BC God began to quietly call some 40 people into His presence. Oh, He did not call them all at once mind you. In fact it took Him nearly 16 centuries to complete the task. But God spoke the burden of His heart in simple but sublime language to those chosen forty. With a holy hush they heard Him tell of creation, corruption, condemnation, justification, sanctification and glorification. These were weighty words indeed. But when God had finished the first tool in carving out the Bible was set aside. Revelation had occurred. Now we see this Almighty Author as He quickly but carefully guides each chosen vessel in his assigned writing task. Each of the human instruments are dealt with individually. Job, a rich farmer will write differently from Amos a poor farmer. The words of the

3 educated Paul will be more complicated on occasion than those of the uneducated John or Peter. But behind every word in this book is the Divine Author, God Himself. Finally, the last penman lays down his pen. The angels watch as their Creator lays aside the second tool in the making of the Bible. Inspiration has taken place. Soon many thousands of men and women join the ranks of those original forty and begin their assigned task of taking God s glory story to the uttermost parts of the earth. As they do untold multitudes are stopped in their tracks, convicted in their hearts and saved from their sins. My. by what secret power did all this take place? The answer is simple, the Divine Author of the Bible is using the third and final tool. Illumination. And illumination continues to take place. And so the Scriptures are shaped. Think of these three tools like this. 1. Revelation: From God to man, man hears that which God wants written: 2. Inspiration: From man to paper, man writes that which God wants written. 3. Illumination: From paper to heart, man receives the light of that which God has written. Now are dealing with inspiration this. the ears have heard the message, but how will the fingers react? What is involved in transferring the voice of God into the vocabulary of man? Paul s classic passage on inspiration in ( 2 Tim Ch 3 ) answers that question. Here he deals with 3 things in relation to the Word of God. (1) THE PERVERSION OF THE WORD OF GOD Down through the ages the powers of darkness have combined to destroy this book and yet it still remains. In the year 303 A.D. the Emperor Diocletian sought to destroy Christianity and the Bible. He ordered that every copy of the Bible be brought to him and had them burned. He took what he believed to be the last copy of God s Word, burned it and buried it. He erected a column over the ruins of that Bible and had words etched upon it which read, The name of Christianity has been extinguished. Just twenty years later after Diocletian thought he had snuffed out the light of God s Word, a new Emperor rose to power named Constantine. Constantine called for a copy of the Bible and within hours, fifty copies of the Bible were delivered to him. You see, no-one will ever be able to destroy this book because it is God breathed. Mary, Queen of England known as bloody Mary, ordered that anyone possessing copy of the Bible be burned. Five years after her edict she died. Voltaire, the noted French Atheist and infidel who died in 1778 said that 100 years from his time Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history. However, 50 years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used Voltaire s house and printing press to print Bibles. Thomas Paine sought to destroy the Word of God. He once said, I have gone through the Bible as a man would go through a forest of trees with an axe. I have cut down tree after tree, they will never rise again. Paine died a drunkard in the year Since his death the Bible has continued to be the best selling book in the

4 world and is loved by believers today as in all generations. But do you see that word inspiration,? People have taken it and perverted the whole meaning of inspiration. So some today believe in, (a) THE NATURAL THEORY: This simply says that the Bible writers were inspired in the same way that William Shakespeare was inspired, in the same way that John Bunyan was inspired to write Pilgrims Progress. In other words that, spark of divine inspiration that supposedly is in all men simply burned a little brighter in the hearts of the Bible writers. To put it another way, the Bible they say is just the product of genius. It s the result of natural inspiration, therefore the Bible has errors in it, fallible material that we can t believe. Now we reject this view because it s saying that God didn t write the book, that smart men wrote it. Would smart men write a book that condemns men to hell? Would smart men write a book that provides no human means of salvation apart from the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ? Never. Men write books to exalt themselves. They never write books to damn themselves. Indeed this theory is totally rejected by the apostle Peter who says, knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. ( 2 Pet 1:20 ) Do you see what Peter is saying? Peter is saying that no part of Scripture was of any private origin. No Scripture ever came out of a man s mind. There was a special condition for the writing of Scripture and Peter refers to it as being moved by the Holy Ghost. ( 2 Pet 1:21 ) (b) THE MECHANICAL THEORY: That God coldly and woodenly dictated the Bible to His writers as an office manager would dictate an impersonal letter to his secretary. My. let us ever remember that the Bible is the story of divine love and God is anything but mechanical or cold concerning this subject. Now it s true that the Lord could have used dictation to give us His truth. He did not have to use men. God could have simply dropped it all down to earth in the form of golden plates, as the Mormons like to claim for the Book of Mormon. But we know that God did not do it that because when we open the Bible we find personality. Each book has a different character and each author has a unique style. There are variations in language and vocabulary. And when we read the various books of the Bible you can feel their emotions as they pour out God s Word on paper. Dr. Charles Hodges says this, Holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It was men not machines, not unconscious instruments, but living, thinking, willing minds whom the Spirit used as His organs. (a) (b) (c) THE PARTIAL THEORY: That only certain parts, of the Bible are inspired. Now this is the position of liberals and modernists who cheerfully accept those parts of the Bible which deal with love and brotherhood, but quickly reject those parts which deal with sin, righteousness and future judgement. The Bible is inspired in places they say. It contains the Word of God

5 but it is not the Word of God. Now there is a great weakness in this view for it calls for another inspiration. If the Bible is inspired in spots, then someone has to be inspired to pick out the spots so they can tell us what is inspired and what is not inspired. An old bishop got up and said that he believed the Bible to be inspired in some places and some spots. Someone asked him for some authority for making such a statement. He quoted, ( Heb 1:1 ) God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. He stated that this meant that God spoke at various times and in varying degrees. Thus he said some spots were fully inspired, others were partially inspired and still others were not inspired at all. You can imagine his embarrassment when someone asked him, How do you know that ( Heb 1:1 ) the only Scripture upon which you base your argument, is one of those fully-inspired spots? (a) (b) (c) (d) THE GENERAL THEORY: The concept that God suggested a trend of revelation, but men were left free to say what they wanted and that is why in the opinion of those who take this position there are so many mistakes in the Bible. Its as if God hit Paul with a thought about what a nice thing love is, and then the apostle sat down and wrote ( 1 Cor 13 ) My. this view denies Verbal Inspiration. It denies that God inspired the very words of Scripture. It is a view that does not square with what the Bible teaches. Take the case of Moses. When Moses tried to excuse himself from God s call on the basis of a speech problem, the Lord did not say, I will inspire your thoughts. Rather He promised, I will be with thy mouth. and will teach you what ye shall do. ( Exod 4:15 ) God didn t inspire thoughts, He inspired words. That is why forty years later Moses was so insistent on giving verbatim instructions to the people of Israel. ( Deut 4:2 ) Don t add to the Word and don t take away from the Word, Moses was saying. Why? Because God gave me these specific words for you. ( 1 Pet 1:10 Matt 16:16-17 ) My. we cannot have geology without rocks, or anthropology without men. We cannot have a melody without musical notes nor can we have a divine record of God without His words. My. the very words of the Scripture are inspired. We call this verbal inspiration. (e) THE EXISTENIAL THEORY Which says, the only part of the Bible that is inspired is the part that hits you. What happens is this. You read the Bible and you get goose pimples, meaning that a particular word or passage is inspired to you. It becomes God s Word when it hits you. If you get ecstatic, emotional, convicted or confronted, then it is God s Word to you, but if you sit there unresponsive, then it is not the Word of God. Now all of this means that the Bible is not really authoritative. There are those who want to eliminate what they think in the Bible is untrue. Some want to do away with all the major truths concerning the Lord Jesus. But they maintain the Bible is spiritually true if and when it sends cold shivers up and down your spine. Now perhaps, none of this makes sense to you. It does not

6 make sense to me either. You see, if the Bible is full of lies from beginning to end why should I ever go to it for spiritual truth? My. the Lord Jesus refutes this view when He says, Thy Word is truth. ( Jn 17:17 ) So when we speak of inspiration we re not thinking about those ideas of inspiration that corrupt the Word of God. (1) (2) THE PROVISION OF THE WORD OF GOD Where did this book come from? You might say it came from the local book store, or perhaps it was given to you by a friend or family member as a gift for Christmas. But in reality your Bible has been provided for you by none other than God Himself. Is this not exactly what Paul says? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Literally this verse says All Scripture is God breathed. God breathed, this means, (a) SUPERNATURAL INSPIRATION: All Scripture is God breathed. Do you know something? The ultimate worth of any work depends on the one who wrote it. Who is its author? Some years ago there appeared in an American magazine a cartoon purporting to portray a scene at the counter of a public library. Someone had just asked for a Bible, Bible, asks the attendant. Bible. Never heard of it. Do you know the author s name? To that inquiry the Bible itself supplies the answer, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now what does inspiration mean? Our word inspired, comes from a Latin word meaning to breathe into. But the concept of breathing in, is not found in this passage. Some have assumed that God breathed some kind of divine life into the words of those who penned the original documents of Scripture. But the Greek term for inspiration here ( theopneustos ) means God breathed. Literally, the verse says, All Scripture is God breathed. That is Scripture is not the words of men into which God puffed divine life. It is the very breathe of God. Scripture is God Himself speaking. Inspiration does not mean men wrote God s truth in their own words. It does not mean God merely assisted the writers. It means that the words of the Bible are the words of God Himself. Every Scripture was breathed out by God. Indeed sometimes the phrase, the Scripture, is used in place of God. ( Gal 3:8 ) Look at ( Exod 9:16 with Rom 9:17 ) You see, when the Scripture speaks, God speaks, when God speaks the Scripture speaks. My. in every sense, when you pick up the Word and read it, you re hearing God s voice. That s exciting. Why do we believe the Bible to be the Word of God? Because God is the author of this book. The Bible is the very Word of God. (a) (b) VERBAL INSPIRATION: All Scripture, the word Paul uses here means writing, ( graphe ) Now did Paul mean that all kinds of writing was inspired? Obviously not. ( 3:15 ) So Paul is talking here about the Holy Scriptures. It is the Holy Scripture that is God breathed. The words of the Bible are God breathed. Some say that the words are not necessarily inspired, but only the thoughts. But did you ever think a thought without words? What kind of thought did you

7 think? Were no words involved? You see, words reveal what we are thinking. Jerry Vines tells the story of two Indians talking. The first one said Ugh. The second one replied, Ugh. The first one said, Ugh, the second one said Ugh, Ugh. The first said Don t change the subject. Did the Lord Jesus believe in verbal inspiration? Well, listen to His words, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ( Matt 4:4 ) Not some of the words, not part of the words, but every word. In fact Christ goes further. He says that not one jot will pass from the law. ( Matt 5:18 ) Do you know what a jot is? It s the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Do you know what a tittle is? It s a little horn on a Hebrew letter. It is only about 1/32 nd of an inch. Do you see what Christ is saying? Until heaven and earth pass away the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the smallest part of a letter shall under no circumstance never pass from the law till all be fulfilled. That s our Lord s view of inspiration. My. we love the words of the Bible. Salvation, justification, grace, faith, hope, and love. Sing them over again to me Wonderful words of life Let me more of their beauty see Wonderful words of life (c) TOTAL INSPIRATION: Do you see what Paul says? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God., ( 3:16 ) How much of Scripture is God breathed? Some of it, most of it, or all of it? My. all Scripture and every Scripture is God breathed. I tell you, I may not understand all the Bible but I believe it all. But preacher where did Cain get his wife? I don t know and I don t care. If she suited Cain she suits me. I believe it all from Genesis to Revelation to be the Word of God. Theologians call of this the Plenary Verbal Inspiration of Scripture. Plenary means all. Nothing is missing. Verbal means every word. So every word in the Bible is God breathed. 1. The Old Testament is Inspired by the Holy Spirit: Look at ( 2 Pet 2:19-21 ) Notice here, The Source of Scripture: Scripture does not come from man. ( 1:20 ) Now Peter was not prohibiting the private study of the Bible. Some religious groups have taught that only spiritual leaders, may interpret Scripture and they have used this verse as their defence. But Peter is not referring here to the interpretation of Scripture but to the origin of Scripture. The Bible did not come by the will of man, rather Scripture comes from God. ( 1:21 ) The most important word here is moved, which speaks of being carried along by the Holy Spirit, as a ship is carried by the wind. Mr. Thomas says, the writers of Scripture were carried along, borne along, under the control and direction of the Holy Spirit of God. They wrote as the Holy Spirit directed them to write. They were borne along by Him so that what they wrote was exactly what the Holy Spirit intended should be there. What they

8 wrote was, in a very real sense, not their words, it was the very Word of God. The Style in Scripture: Holy men of God spake., ( 1:21 ) You see, while God is the true source of Scripture He employed human instruments to write it down. That s why the various books bear the stamp of individuality in their style. The pathos of Jeremiah, the logic of Paul, the love of John. You see, as you read you become aware of a divine author who inspired the writers to say what He wanted said The New Testament is Inspired by the Holy Spirit: The same infallible Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of the Old Testament, which bears all the hallmarks of plenary and verbal inspiration, inspired the writing of the New Testament, which also bears all the hallmarks of plenary and verbal inspiration. The Holy Spirit, Inspired the Gospels: Look at ( Jn 14:26 ) How is it that the gospel writers could remember every thing Christ said and record it in the Scriptures? The Lord said the Holy Spirit would bring it all to their remembrance. So the gospels were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Inspired the Book of Acts: Look at ( Jn 15:26-27 ) So Acts was inspired. Inspired the Epistles: Look at ( Jn 16:12-13 ) Inspired the Book of Revelation: Look at ( Jn 16:13 ) My. let me affirm where I stand, where this church stands. When I speak of the Bible as the Word of God I do not mean only that it contains the Word of God, but that it is the Word of God. No better testimony to the extent of inspiration could be borne than that by Dean Burgon, The Bible is none other than the voice of Him that sitteth on the throne. Every book of it, every chapter of it, every verse of it, every syllable of it, every letter of it, is the direct utterance of the Most High. (1) (2) (3) THE PURPOSE OF THE WORD OF GOD Why did God give us a Bible? Well, the Word of God is written for the glorification of the Saviour, the salvation of the sinner and the sanctification of the saint. You see, the Bible is vital in, (a) OUR GROWING UP: EDUCATION: What a heritage of faith Timothy had. ( 3:15 ) Each day his godly mother Eunice and his godly granny would take the sacred Scriptures and prepare the days Bible lesson for tiny Tim. What Bible lesson shall we teach tiny Tim

9 today? You see, they were preparing his little heart. Then on a day Paul preached at Lystra and young Timothy came to saving faith in Christ. Paul refers to him as Timothy my own son in the faith. ( 1 Tim 1:1 ) He gave his hand to Paul and his heart to Christ. What a testimony was his, from his mother s knee to his Master s knee. My. do we not need to get them when they are young? When the heart is tender, the will is compliant, the mind is open? Does this church not need to invest more in the lives of little children? More time, more money, more energy, in the spiritual education of our children? (b) OUR GOING ON: SANCTIFICATION: Look if you will at ( 3:16-17 ) The word perfect, means mature. You see, the Scriptures are here not only for your salvation, but for your sanctification. God gave us the Scriptures to know what is right. The word doctrine, means teaching, to know what is right. But also the Scripture is profitable to show us what is wrong. For it also says for reproof. It shows us what is right, it shows us what is wrong, but that s not enough. It goes on to tell us how to get right when we are wrong. It s for correction. And then the Bible is here to tell us how to stay right. Its for instruction in righteousness. Do you know something? The measure of your growth is measured to a great degree by your feeding on the Word of God. My. are you going on? Are you growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? (a) (b) (c) OUR GIVING OUT: PROCLAMATION: For to this young man who had a godly heritage and a great mentor Paul says, Preach the Word. ( 4:2 ) Preach it faithfully, as a herald declares the message of his king, preach it incessantly, in season and out of season, preach it effectively, reprove, rebuke, exhort, preach it persistently, even though folk may not endure sound doctrine. What kind of preaching do we need today? We need the same kind we always needed. We have a need preacher in some quarters today but we don t need him. We don t need a new Bible. We don t need a new preacher. My preacher friend, preach the old book, it will do the job. People want to hear again the old, old, truths from the old, old book. My fellow preacher. preach the Word. (a) (b) (c) (d) OUR GETTING HOME: CONSOLATION: Here is the old warrior facing certain death. He says, the time of my departure is at hand. ( 4:6 ) What did Paul want in his last days? He wanted his cloak, something warm for his body, his books, something stimulating for his mind, but especially the parchments, he wanted the Word of God for his soul. I wonder what Old Testament portions he wanted as soft pillows on his deathbed? Was it ( Ps 23:4 ) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. How often I have whispered the promises of God into the ears of dying saints. When Sir Walter Scott was dying he said to his secretary, bring me the book. She said, But there are thousands of books in your library which book do you mean? He said, there

10 is but one book, the Bible. There is just one Book for the dying One book for the starting tears And one for the soul that is going home For the numberless years There is just one Book Like the psalmist he could say, Oh how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day long. ( 119:97 ) My. what about you? Is this your testimony? Do you love your Bible like that? What a privilege that we have in our homes, our hands, our hearts the Word of God. I read a lovely story some time ago of a Christian farmer in the U.S.A. who fell heir in some way to a Spanish Bible. He could not a read a word of it and wondered what to do with it. Then he remembered in the district was a Mexican family. He made his way up to the house and was greeted by the father of a large family. The Christian said, I have a gift for you, a Bible. It is written in Spanish in your language. The Mexican took it with gratitude, Gracias, gracias. One day when the farmer had forgotten the incident, there was a knock at his door. There stood that Mexican farmer. He said, You know the book you gave us? We have been reading through the book and we have all been saved. And it says in the book we ought to be baptised and I have come to ask if and all my family could be baptised. The whole family was baptised. Then one day a fire a broke out in that Mexicans house. As the house was going up in flames, the farmers who had gathered around saw that Mexican dash into those burning embers and come back out with the Bible. He had rescued it from the fire and held it in his hands a treasure forever.